Tiffany R. Durst

Tiffany R. Durst was born in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania in February, 1971. She attended Clay-Battelle High School in Blacksville, West Virginia and then West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. Tiffany was on the Dean's List and/or the President's List for academic honors the entirety of her undergraduate education. Her academic honors also included an Undergraduate Statistics Teach Fellowship in the spring of 1993. In addition, Tiffany received a Certificate of Achievement from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences on three separate occasions, as well as being named the 1993 Outstanding Senior in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. In 1993, Tiffany completed her undergraduate education, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology.

In the fall of 1994, Tiffany began her legal education at the West Virginia University College of Law in Morgantown, West Virginia. Tiffany earned her J.D. in 1997 from the College of Law.

Following admission to the West Virginia State Bar, Tiffany began work with McNeer, Highland, McMunn & Varner, L.C., in Clarksburg, West Virginia as an associate. In 2004, Tiffany became a director with McNeer, Highland, McMunn & Varner, L.C. Tiffany's practice included defense litigation, representing insurers and corporations in a wide variety of litigation including insurance defense, insurance coverage, insurance extracontractual liability (bad faith), medical malpractice defense, nursing home negligence defense, legal malpractice defense, adoption, and personal injury defense. In addition, Tiffany has had an active appellate practice before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, presenting oral argument before the Court in both appeals and extraordinary petitions on several occasions. In that regard, Tiffany was chief appellate counsel in Strahin v. Sullivan, 647 S.E.2d 765, 2007 W. Va. Lexis 6 (2007) and Jackson v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 215 W. Va. 364, 600 S.E.2d 346 (2004), two seminal cases addressing insurance bad faith and excess verdicts in the State of West Virginia.

In March of 2008, Tiffany continued her practice when she joined the law firm of Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown & Poe, PLLC, as a member, in the firm's Morgantown office. She has continued her appellate practice and has also developed an active trial practice with approximately thirty trials in the last seven years in state and federal court.

Tiffany is admitted to practice before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the United States District Court, in both the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Tiffany currently resides in Blacksville (approximately twenty minutes west of Morgantown) with her husband, James, their three labs, Duncan, Loomis and Darby.

Year Joined Organization:

• 2008

Litigation Percentage:

• 100% of Practice Devoted to Litigation

Representative Cases:

• State ex re. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Bedell, 228 W.Va. 252, 719 S.E.2d 722 (2011)

• State ex rel. State Farm Mutual Automobil Insurance Company v. Bedell, 226 W.Va. 138, 697 S.E. 2d. 730 (2010)

• Brown v. The City of Fairmont, 2007 W.Va. LEXIS 103 (West Virginia 2007)

• Strahin v. Sullivan, 647 S.E.2d 765 (West Virginia 2007)

• Swiger v. United Valley Insurance Company, 189 Fed. Appx 234 (4th Circuit 2006)

• Jackson v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 600 S.E.2d 346 (West Virginia 2004)

• Moore v. CNA Insurance Company, 599 S.E.2d 709 (West Virginia 2004)

• Strahin v. Cleavenger, 603 S.E.2d 197 (West Virginia 2004)

• Hutchens v. Progressive Paloverde Insurance Company, 211 F. Supp. 2d 788 (S.D.W.Va. 2002)

• Dairyland Insurance Company v. Fox, 550 S.E.2d 388 (West Virginia 2001)

• Slider v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 557 S.E.2d 883 (West Virginia 2001)

• Lee v. Gentlemen's Club, Inc., 542 S.E.2d 78 (West Virginia 2000)

• State Auto Mutual Insurance Company v. Alpha Eng'g Services, 542 S.E.2d 876 (West Virginia 2000)

• West Virginia Fire & Casualty Company v. Matthews, 543 S.E.2d 664 (West Virginia 2000)

• Klettner v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 519 S.E.2d 870 (West Virginia 1999)

• Lawyer Disciplinary Board v. Kupec, 515 S.E.2d 600 (West Virginia 1999)

• McCammon v. Oldaker, 516 S.E.2d 38 (West Virginia 1999)

• State ex rel. West Virginia Fire & Casualty Company, 505 S.E.2d 210 (West Virginia 1998)

Representative Clients:

• 21st Century

• AIG Claims Services, Inc.

• Allstate

• Erie Insurance Company

• Glatfelter Claims Management

• Met Life

• Montpelier US Insurance Company

• Progressive Insurance Company

• Safeco Insurance Company

• State Farm Insurance Company

• Swiss Re

• The Hartford

• Travelers Insurance Company

• Westfield

• Zurich

• National American Insurance Company

Classes/Seminars Taught:

• West Virginia Trucking Association Convention, “Preparation of Employees for Statements, Interviews, Deposition and Controlling Social Media,” September 22, 2016

• Expert Witness Workshop, Defense Trial Counsel Young Lawyers Committee 2016 CLE Seminar, “Medical Experts and Future Damages,” September 9, 2016

• Building Your Civil Trial Skills - "How to Handle Post Trial Issues", National Business Institute, June 28, 2012 - Present

• Insurance Bad Faith Claims, Lorman Education Services, May 3, 2012 - Present

• Insurance Bad Faith Claims, Lorman Education Services, May 25, 2010 - Present

• Insurance Bad Faith, Lorman, May 29, 2008 - Present

• Update on Bad Faith Law, Travelers Insurance, May 22, 2008 - Present

• Understanding First Party Liability Issues in Health and Disability Policies, WVU College of Law, September 21, 2007 - Present

• Insurance Bad Faith, Lorman, May 31, 2007 - Present

• Update on Law, West Virginia Association of Insurance Companies, May 10, 2007 - Present

• Insurance Law Update: Understanding Current Coverage Trends, NBI, March 1, 2007 - Present

• Third National Advanced Forum on Environmental Insurance Claims and Litigation, ACI, January 25, 2007 - Present

• Seventh National Forum on Litigating, Settling and Managing Asbestos Claims, ACI, June 15, 2006 - Present

• Bad Faith and Employment Practices Coverage, State Auto Insurance Seminar, May 1, 2005 - Present

• Eighth National Advanced Forum on Litigating Disability Insurance Claims, ACI, March 4, 2005 - Present

• Insurance Coverage Law in West Virginia, NBI, May 6, 2004 - Present

Honors and Awards:

• BV Rated Attorney - Martindale Hubbell

Past Employment Positions:

• Oliver & Yackel, Law Clerk, 1995 - 1997

• McNeer, Highland, McMunn & Varner, L.C., Associate, 1997 - 2003

• McNeer, Highland, McMunn & Varner, L.C., Director, 2004 - 2008